Human Genomics in Development and Disease

Alexander Pearlman, Ph.D.

Research

Alex Pearlman is a cancer biologist who holds a BS degree in biomedical engineering, a master's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in computational biology. His research is dedicated to studying the biology of metastatic cancer through the lens of somatic tumor genomics. He investigated the molecular basis for the prostate cancer health disparity in African American and Caucasian American men. This study yielded compelling evidence that the health disparity can be reflected in the genomic copy number alterations of tumors, enabling them with a selective advantage to metastasize. He developed a genomic copy number alteration based prognostic model that could predict, at the earliest stage possible, the likelihood of a local prostate cancer to metastasize. This model would be used to prevent disease-specific mortality by providing evidence for aggressive treatment of asymptomatic local disease and to prevent normal tissue toxicity by over treating men with indolent disease.

Dr. Pearlman is working to translate his research into cancer diagnostics and therapeutics that will revolutionize the management of the disease by providing meaningful guidance for treatments that improve the patient’s quality of life.